Wednesday, April 23, 2008

199 Wednesday

I did a fair amount of fresh fiction writing yesterday. No editing of existing prose, but newly-written fiction. I haven't done that in awhile.

On to this week's 199.

I just finished Charles Stross's Glasshouse and did not enjoy it.

At the online crit group I've yet to post a submission (I know, I know!), I hijacked Carole McDonnell's post somewhat about her glossary-in-development for one of her WiPs. I enjoyed Carole's glossary for Wind Follower and enjoyed what I saw so far of the WiP glossary.

However, I did not enjoy Stross's glossary.
Reason: seconds.
Stross starts Glasshouse with a glossary at the front of his book. Nothing wrong with that. My issue was the content of the glossary. It defined the various references to seconds and their equivalents in our world.

I was turned off the book before I read the first word of the novel proper.
I just don't understand why Stross opted for seconds to describe all passages of time rather than the conventional measurements, especially since the majority of the novel takes place in the twentieth century.

That could be the case. I'd never thought of that, but it does make sense. I just wish he would have thrown in a bit more entries in the glossary about the world he created, its main characters, and its main events. It would have been very helpful and allowed me to appreciate the novel more.